President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged judges to conclude cases with the same speed they issue injunctions.
Speaking at State House yesterday when he witnessed the swearing in of Chief Justice David Maraga, he said injunctions frustrate development.
“One thing the judiciary is good at is issuing injunctions. We’ve no problem with injunctions as long as rulings can also come with the same speed. We can’t keep halting things indefinitely,” Uhuru said.
“It’s like the judiciary has become the government’s procurement department.”
While pledging his support to the new CJ, the President urged Maraga to help fast-track the 680 corruption cases pending in court.
Uhuru said it is embarrassing how institutions kept blaming each other during Tuesday’s State House Summit on Anti-Corruption and Accountability.
“We have given you the resources you need. Kenyans want to see the cases concluded. There are 20,000 people in remand custody. Justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.
“The Judiciary is better resourced than at any other point in history. There is no reason why service delivery should be poor.”
Uhuru advised Maraga to attend the regular round-table meetings, where they discuss affairs touching on the three arms of government.
“Your predecessor [Willy Mutunga] was not very keen on attending. I hope you’ll be attending so we can work together,” he said.
CJ Maraga will be expected to build on the confidence Kenyans have in the judiciary. Mutunga took over when it had a bad image.
The retired CJ made justice more accessible by establishing 17 new High Court stations countrywide.
He decentralised the Court of Appeal to Kisumu, Nyeri and Malindi. During his tenure, the number of judges rose significantly from 53 to 143.
A number of lawyers agree that Mutunga’s undoing was his leadership style. They say he kept complaining about corruption but did nothing about it. They say he put more emphasis on training and seminars and forgot the judges’ core duty of dispensing justice.
The lawyers are happy he reduced case backlog from an estimated one million in 2011 to slightly above 400,000. Mutunga encouraged litigants to pursue alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to cut down on costs and reduce court cases.
Maraga’s immediate task is to restore the image of the Supreme Court, which was dented just before the exit of three judges.
The court was criticised for the manner in which it handled the presidential election petition filed by Cord leader Raila Odinga in 2013. Maraga promised to deal with inefficiencies.